Letter of the day

SIR — I thank Dr. Tajudeen for his article on Thursday entitled “If we desert Africa, who will redeem her?”

In 2002, my husband and I were planning to leave Germany after completion of our studies. Our friends, especially from West Africa, used to wonder whether we were in our right senses.
How could we think of going back to Africa, they asked!

One Ugandan friend used to wonder how much we were going to earn back home. Despite all the persuasion by our friends, we came back home and we do not regret it.

how do we clearly inform our people that the heaven they expect to find in Europe or America is actually right here in Africa?

How do we encourage them to earn a living here in Africa by turning our resources into money? I believe Africa is the richest continent on earth but alas Africans seem to live for the wellbeing of others! Recently, I listened to the managing director of Shell Kenya and Tanzania.

he was justifying the fact that once a country finds oil, the wealth should not immediately trickle down to the communities because the investor has to earn his money first!

If it is not profitable to the people then let us not exploit it!

Ghandi was able to liberate the people of India through turning around the control of salt wells that were dominated by the British colonialists! Unfortunately similar colonial tendencies seem to exist to this day.

No wonder many times, we are informed that we only received political independence but are still economically dependent. How much do our farmers earn? Who is ready to organise them so that they can bargain for a better pay as a way out of poverty?

How many of our graduates get jobs commensurate with their education? How many of us know the difference between working for money and making money?
How many institutions teach enterprenuership skills as
part of their curriculum?

A colleague has written an article about projections for education and future employment in
Uganda(fmugisha@aphrc.org) which together with Tajudeen's article widen my thoughts about who will redeem Africa.

In June last year we were having a training on development and Human Rights for Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and DRC Congo.

Participants presented their dreams about Africa and all their thoughts centred on African unity, economic and social development.

Jacqueline M. Arinaitwe
Kampala